As early as the fourth century BC, attention was directed to certain medical and/or poisonous plant species. To determine the presence of alkaloid constituents in such species, see: Gibbs, R. D. "Chemotaxonomy of Flowering Plants" Vol III, McGillis-Queens University Press. Montreal, 1974, p 1924. Over time, more than thirty species of the relatively large Amaryllidaceae family found use in the primitive treatment of cancer (See: Hartwell, J. L. Loydia, 1967, 30, 391).
In the continuing effort to locate and define various natural and synthesizable substances for treatment of one or more varieties of cancer, research chemists continue to look at natural flora and fauna in an attempt to isolate and identify substances which exhibit antineoplastic activity while substantially minimizing, if not totally eliminating, some of the severe side effects accompanying known chemotherapeutic agents.
It is in the further pursuit of these goals that plant species heretofore ignored are now being examined to determine whether they contain constituents which when isolated will exhibit antineoplastic activity.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide new agents useful in the retardation or remission of one or more types of cancer.
Another object of the present invention is to provide methods and procedures for isolating antineoplastic substances from plant life in a form whereby they may be readily and usefully employed in the therapeutic treatment and management of one or more types of cancer occurring in human hosts.
A further object of the present invention is to provide means and methods of creating useful pharmaceutical preparations for the treatment and management of cancer which preparations contain as their essential active ingredient a factor extracted from Pancratium littorale Jacq. and Zephranthes grandiflora, its synthetic replication, or non-toxic pharmacologically active derivatives thereof.
These and still further objects, as shall hereinafter appear, are fulfilled by the present invention in a remarkably unexpected manner as will be readily discerned from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof.